Question 1: In what ways does
your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and
conventions of real media
products?

The Pursuit

Location
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One of the most important aspects of our thriller film was location.
We had to find the right location to establish the genre in which we
were to set our thriller film and to connote the genre of the opening.
The location we chose to use for our thriller film wasn’t based in one
strict area and we filmed several scenes in various different places
around Norwich such as Anglia Square and Magdelane St. These
locations seen in The Pursuit are rather dystopian portrayed as
unglamorous, prosaic and mundane. These characteristics of our
locations help to give ‘The Pursuit’ a very cold and grainy feel. We
got inspiration from original British thrillers/dramas such as
‘Kidulthood’, ‘Se7en’ and ‘The Killing’.
We chose to film a moderately large section of ‘The Pursuit’ in Anglia
Square due to its dull and grey appearance, it’s also vaguely known
for its derylict and neglected surroundings. Thus we were using
generic conventions to signify the genre as many original thriller films
such as the estates/industrial areas in ‘Essex Boys’ . These sorts of
locations are a visual metaphor for moral ambiguity and corruption.

•

We developed the generic conventions of original thriller films by
ensuring that at the time of filming, our locations were isolated with
little form of any other human contact. Isolated surroundings can be
unwelcoming and eery much like the murder scene in the
countryside in the film ‘Heavenly Creatures’. Therefore we attempted
to shadow this by making our surroundings isolated and detached.

•

The locations we used were inspired by modern grime films and TV
shows; such as This is England, Skins and A Clockwork Orange. We
used these to challenge generic conventions of other noir thrillers
such as The Third Man. We did this because when The Third Man
was first created the locations used were representative of the time,
therefore we wanted to make our film representative of our culture in
2014.

The dull and grey appearance of Anglia
Square, Norwich.

Isolated
surroundings in
‘Essex Boys’
creating an
unwelcoming feel.

Isolated and detached
surroundings are a
generic convention of
thriller films and an easy
place to carry out a
murder (shown in this
scene from ‘Heavenly
Creatures’.

Camera Angles
We succeeded in using a range of different camera angles in our thriller film, ranging
from over the shoulder shots, to medium close ups. We tried to use close ups where
appropriate in our film as we felt they were important to help engage the audience and
also to keep the mise en scene feeling claustrophobic. Nearer the end of our thriller
film we used a close up of Toby’s feet while he was ascending up a flight of stairs with
a slow motion effect on the shot which allowed us to build tension for the audience and
hint that something could be about to happen. When thinking about these close ups
we linked it back to the opening scene of “Kill Bill” in which we see ‘Bill’s’ feet walking,
this
creates suspense whilst also keeping the character of Bill ambiguous.
Close up shots are often found in thrillers because they are effective in conveying
emotion and engaging the audience. For example, in “Witness” a close up is used
of the boys hands as he panics to lock the door, this helps to heighten the tension
amongst the audience. Therefore they can be used to connote the power or status of a
character. We used this generic convention when first revealing the protagonist ‘Toby’
to the audience. By using this close up the audience were strictly focused on him as
his face filled up the frame and was key in establishing Toby emotions at the time. We
use a low angle shot of Toby in the image shown below in order to hint to the audience
that he may have an elevated status over Jack and Harry. Toby dominates much of the
screen time throughout our thriller film therefore further portraying his power and status
as a character.

Close up of Toby’s foot (in The Pursuit). This shot
creates enigma fear due to it filling up most of the
frame.

Opening scene of “Kill Bill Vol. 1”, close up of Bill’s feet

Slight low angle, close up shot of Toby, engaging the audience and
showing the emotion that Toby is showing.

.

Camera Angles/Shots
•

We attempted to hint to our audience which character had the most elevated
status and was the biggest threat. We attempted to fool the audience in the fact
that Toby seemed to be vulnerable as he was being followed but tried to hint to
the audience that Toby may in fact have the more elevated status out of the
three characters. We did this through the generic convention of the low angle
shot. Low angles are often used in thrillers to connote the power and
intimidation that they possess, a good example of this would be in the film
‘Psycho’ during the scene where Norman Bates’s house is shot with a ghostly
silhouette of him standing beside. The use of these low angle shots used
specifically around the character of Toby suggest that he is always looking
down on others and making others look up to him, furthermore enhancing his
power and status.

A particular useful shot type we used in ‘The Pursuit’ was
the over the shoulder shot. This shot portrayed the sense
that Toby was getting followed and allowed the audience
to be put in the shoes of Toby’s stalker (Jack).

Toby shown from a low angle shot connoting his power.
Norman Bates’s house shot from a low angle in the
film ‘Physco’.

Enigma
•

We felt that it was very important to use enigma in our thriller film
because it allows the film to take an interesting turn that the
audience were not expecting or were unable to predict. It can also
create a certain amount of tension within the audience as you are
lurking into the ‘fear of the unknown’, this becomes a powerful agent
of getting the audience engaged.

•

Enigma plays a very big role in ‘The Pursuit’, enigma can come in
the form of a person or object that is mysterious and difficult to
understand. We have used this enigma in our characters causing
great illusion with our audience. It appears at first that Jack is the
danger whilst shadowing Toby but then as our film continues the
audience have been deceived as they see Jack lying dead on the lift
floor and now are left wondering if Jack was just a harmless
character trying to deliver a message and leaves them wondering
that if the character of Harry who Jack met in the lift was responsible
for this murder.

•

We wanted to give the audience something to think about throughout
our thriller film therefore engaging them in order to captivate them.
The phone that is being held serves an enigma because it is never
revealed to the audience who’s phone it is nor revealed to the
audience who’s number is listed on the phone with the message
saying ‘RUN’. Furthermore added to the enigma in ‘The Pursuit’ is
the hand that is placed firmly apon Toby’s shoulder in the second
last closing scene, this bears the question to the audience about
who’s hand that was and what happened to the person who’s hand it
was as Toby is the only character appeared to be left in our closing
scene.

Shot of text from unknown number saying ‘RUN’.
Displayed on phone who audience don’t know who it
belongs to.

Title
•

We decided to use the name ‘Transit’ for our film title because it
directly links with the events that are happening on the screen.

•

Toby is being pursued by his stalker Jack for the main section of the
film, therefore this is where the idea for our title came from as our
whole film is based around someone being followed or pursued.

•

Using a title that gives a sense of foreboding is reasonably common
within the thriller genre and within the film industry. Thrillers such as
‘Se7en’ and ‘Drive’ emphasise this point as the title begins to explore
the main themes of the film and gives a slight hint about the storyline
of the film, for example Se7en is about a series of seven different
murders whereas Drive is about a stunt driver who is on a getaway.

•

We felt that the title of our thriller film gave a good sense of
foreboding, as it sets the scene for the film and gives the audience a
slight hint as to what the film was about. We also chose to put our
title in black and white as it suits our noir type thriller film.

Title from the thriller
‘Se7en’

Title from our Thriller film – ‘The Pursuit’

Title from ‘Drive’

Character Types
•

When deciding on our three main characters to star in ‘The Pursuit’,
we had to make sure that they either challenged or developed
generic conventions of a thriller. Although we had limited options for
our three main characters, I thought we chose well and managed to
use and challenge the generic conventions of a characters through
Toby, Jack and Harry.

•

The characters of both Jack and Harry both seem to use the generic
stereotype of young male teenagers in film. By putting both Jack and
Harry in hooded clothing we are using the generic convention of
stereotyping teenagers as most older generations have the belief
that teenagers only venture outside in what is seen as intimidating
hooded clothing. The three characters are intwined with this pursuit
in what we chose as a rather rough area furthermore stereotyping
teenagers who wear this hooded type clothing, usually come from
this type of background. We also used generic conventions by
deciding that Jack and Harry’s costume should be similar to that of
the youth seen in the gritty British thriller TV drama ‘Top Boy’. We
researched into ‘Top Boy’ as we wanted our characters to portray a
similar likeness to the characters in this series.

•

The character of Toby is smoking a cigarette at the beginning and
end of the film, this reinforces the stereotype of young people that
they drink and smoke and are a general bad look and threat to
people around them. The cigarette can also imply a sense of danger
about Toby’s character,

Two characters from the series ‘Top Boy’.

Jack from ‘The Pursuit’

Sound
•

When debating possible soundtracks we decided to look at various
crime thrillers and make not of the soundtracks that were used in
order to build tension and create different moments of suspense
throughout the film.

•

The soundtrack that we chose to use for ‘The Pursuit’ was called
‘need blood’ and was listed as an original thriller soundtrack by
YouTube. I think that this was a very effective soundtrack to use for
our thriller film as it builds tension successfully allowing for
something dramatic to happen at any point. Throughout the
soundtrack that are many high pitch raises of the sound which
allowed us to put in a dramatic section of our film in time with the
music. For example in order to give the title of our film title presence
we were able to have a short period of silence due to the soundtrack
chosen before a sudden high pitch tone, revealing the title; ‘The
Pursuit’. This made the title stand out and hopefully helped the
audience to remember the name of the film. These silent periods
before a sudden high pitch shriek in our soundtrack were also very
useful as the audience may not have been expecting them, therefore
making them frightened and on edge as they weren’t expecting it.

•

The soundtrack ‘need blood’ that we chose to use for our thriller film
had a fast pace to it, and right from the beginning had an upbeat
tempo to it, keeping the audience engaged and allowing our film to
progress at a fast pace.

The soundtrack is silent before a high
pitched shriek revealing the title; ‘The
Pursuit’. This shows a good link
between both soundtrack and the Titles.